He works behind bullet-proof glass windows in a tiny office hidden on one of the obscure, upper floors of the old Palais de Justice. He has no permanent staff except for a secretary. Stacks of working files litter his standard government-issue desk.

He works behind bullet-proof glass windows in a tiny office hidden on one of the obscure, upper floors of the old Palais de Justice. He has no permanent staff except for a secretary. Stacks of working files litter his standard government-issue desk.

A French DC-10 jetliner with 171 people aboard experienced a powerful high-altitude explosion, possibly from a terrorist bomb, before crashing in a remote desert region of Niger in northern Africa, officials in France said Wednesday. In Washington, intelligence specialists said they believe that the jetliner may have been bombed by people seeking to retaliate against France for its recent actions in Lebanon.

Libya rejected charges by a French judge that it masterminded an airliner bombing that killed all 170 people on board in 1989. A DC-10 of France's UTA airline exploded over the Niger desert during a flight between the Congolese capital of Brazzaville and Paris after a stop in Chad. The official news agency JANA called the judge's charges "a campaign of racial hatred against the Arab people of Libya" and said Libya "condemns all terrorist operations against innocent civilians."

Libya on Sunday denounced a Western deadline for handing over two men suspected in the Lockerbie bombing, and diplomats said the statement could lead to new sanctions against Moammar Kadafi's government. The United States, France and Britain said Friday that Libya would face further sanctions if it did not hand over the suspects by Oct. 1 for trial in the United States or Britain. The two men, alleged by the West to be Libyan intelligence agents, are suspects in the Dec.

The Libyan government Wednesday invited the French judge who recently accused senior Libyan officials of masterminding the 1989 bombing of a French airliner to visit Libya so they can answer his charges. Attorneys representing the Libyan government said they will guarantee the safety of the investigative magistrate, Jean-Louis Bruguiere, if he goes to Libya.

A bomb most likely caused the crash of a French DC-10 jetliner that exploded in the sky over a desolate stretch of northern Africa, killing all 171 people on board, the airline said today. The French airline UTA also said it received an anonymous call from a man claiming responsibility for the crash on behalf of the Muslim terrorist group Islamic Jihad. The airline said it was not in a position to judge the call's authenticity and informed the French Foreign Ministry.

A French DC-10 jetliner with 171 people aboard experienced a powerful high-altitude explosion, possibly from a terrorist bomb, before crashing in a remote desert region of Niger in northern Africa, officials in France said Wednesday. In Washington, intelligence specialists said they believe that the jetliner may have been bombed by people seeking to retaliate against France for its recent actions in Lebanon.